Tourmaline (unusually fibrous) (ex Rolando Gioia Collection)

Item Description

This piece did not have a specific mine given for the locality, and as Rock Currier once said, "Trying to find an accurate locality for gem minerals in Brazil is like trying to pin down a moonshiner's still", so we're forced to simply leave it as Minas Gerais. With that said, it's a very attractive cabinet display specimen featuring a 5.8 cm beautiful blue color Tourmaline crystal that has been altered in the center showing a distinct fibrous "cat's-eye" effect. The crystal still retains it's trigonal form on the upper part of the prism, but it's incomplete on the termination. The matrix is composed of gemmy Quartz crystals, many of which are included with the blue Tourmaline crystals on the top / display side of the specimen, but the underside reveals that none of the crystals are included with Tourmaline, showing their original white / colorless hue. Valued at $1,200 for the strange form and beautiful coloring. Very attractive and unusual. From the collection of Rolando Gioia (a contributor to the new definitive book on Brazilian minerals: "Minerais e Pedras Preciosas do Brasil").